The Inescapable Cycle
by Rialga
Summary: During the battle wit Madara, a huge discovery regarding Naruto and Sasuke. Will this discovery be enough to help the two become friends again after the battle or will it only push them further away?


For some reason why, this idea just came so naturally to me that it was kinda scary. It made perfect sense to me and it seemed so good that I just had to make a one-shot of it.

Here it is. Hope you enjoy it.

The Inescapable Cycle

"This is it," Naruto thought panting from exhaustion, "the final moment." Looking over to his right, he saw Sasuke looking just as worn out as him. Standing before them in a similar state was none other than Madara himself, the leader of the Akatsuki and the one who had started the fourth ninja war.

"Brats," Madara snarled as he prepared his next attack, but his arms were shaking from the strain he's been experiencing so far and so his movements weren't as fast as he'd like.

Naruto closed his eyes for a brief second to reflect on the events prior to this battle. He remembered how he was lied to so that he would stay out of the war, that is until he mastered the Kyuubi's power and made his way to the frontlines. From there, he used his new abilities to help take down the revived kages and then later go on to destroy a good portion of the white Zetsu army that Madara had under his command. During this time, his allies had been able to locate where Kabuto was and they went off to confront him while Naruto made his way to the location he learned of where Madara was at. Along the way, he had once again encountered Sasuke. Sticking to his words from the last time they spoke, they both fought it out with everything they got, Sasuke's new eternal mangekyou having given him enough of a power boost to match Naruto in his new Kyuubi chakra mode.

It had been a tough battle, but in the end, thanks to his unpredictability and unwavering resolve, Naruto came out on top. However, before he could have followed through on his word to end Sasuke, Madara had shown up, angry that his army had now effectively been destroyed in a violent battle between them and the shinobi alliance forces.

He had been ready to attack Naruto, believing him to be the one that caused such a shift in the war, a belief he was right in seeing as it was Naruto who took down the toughest of the revived kages such as the third Raikage. He didn't get a chance to attack though as Sasuke was able to get back on his feet and stop it. it was revealed at that moment that Sasuke had actually planned to betray Madara, he just had the luck of encountering Naruto before he could do anything.

And from there, Naruto found himself fighting along Sasuke against Madara. They were both battle weary while Madara wasn't, but thanks to Sasuke having closely studied his movements all those times he was around the ancient ninja, as well as Naruto's unpredictable battle tactics, they were able to wear Madara down quite a bit, landing many hits that would have surely crippled anyone else if not kill them. However, Madara was not like any other ninja alive and so he had survived his wounds.

And so this led up to this moment, the one moment that could very well end the war. For better or worse was to be seen. Madara moved his hands as quickly as possible, preparing a devastating jutsu. From what Naruto and Sasuke were able to see, it seemed that Madara was going to try and fry them with a fire jutsu.

They were soon proven right as Madara leaned back and in one swift motion, suddenly moved forward, breathing out a massive fireball. The fireball flew at the duo fast, much faster than they would've anticipated. However, that didn't mean they couldn't dodge it. weaving through a few hand signs of his own, Sasuke was able to fire a fireball of his own. It flew forward and collided with Madara's, but it was obvious that Madara's was stronger as his fireball overwhelmed the other one in under a few seconds.

However, Naruto and Sasuke had known this and used the few seconds afforded to them to rush past the fireball and straight at Madara, who had fallen to one knee, his jutsu just now having used up whatever chakra he had had left.

Sasuke summoned whatever chakra he had left to form a Chidori while Naruto made a clone to form his signature jutsu, the Rasengan. Both leapt right at Madara as soon as their attacks formed.

Madara's eyes widened as their attacks were aimed for his face. "No!" he yelled, trying to move to the side to avoid them, but he was too slow and he was struck in the chest by Sasuke's Chidori while Naruto was able to get him in the gut with the Rasengan.

The resulting attacks caused a violent explosion of sorts that sent them all flying. They all cried out in pain, but not just because of the backlash of the attacks, but because of something else as well. They landed with heavy thuds. Groaning in pain, the duo slowly tried to get back to their feet, refusing to go down until Madara went down first. However, getting back was a very hard task for them to accomplish in their current state, so they could only settle for sitting up a bit to get a good look at Madara.

Madara lied over a dozen or so yards away from their position, his pain evident in his moans. Like Naruto and Sasuke, he tried to get back up, his hand covering up his face as he did so. Unlike them, Madara was able to get back up, but he was only able to stand for a few short seconds before falling down to both knees, now both of his hands covering up his face. "No, no, no, this can't be happening," he cried out.

With every word he had said, his voice seemed to grow deeper than it already was, raspier even. He slowly lifted his head to look at them and his hands moved enough for them to see his face. What they saw made them gasp. At first, they saw that his face seemed normal enough, looking like he did in the past when he had fought the First Hokage, but then his face seemed to flicker. At first, it wasn't much, but it kept flickering more and more until his face became completely obscured.

Then it seemed to drop, like an image fading out of existence. In replacement of his original face was that of a horribly burnt man, not a single shred of skin on his face anymore, leaving all of the muscle tissue visible, much to the disgust of Naruto and Sasuke.

It wasn't just the skin, or rather the lack of it, that had made them recoil in surprise though; it was Madara's eyes. At first, he had his sharingan and the rinnegan, but when the skin had disappeared, so did the eyes. They had changed to a burning green color that seemed to radiate rage, a rage so great that it sent shivers down the young shinobis' spines.

"I was so close. I nearly had the peace I wanted." Madara stood up, his rage now fueling him. "And you've ruined it for me!" He yelled.

At his words, something in Naruto and Sasuke happened. They weren't sure what it was, for it was something they had just felt during the clash that had occurred barely a moment ago. At first, it had been faint, but now something about Madara's words sparked something in them.

Before they even knew what happened, the two of them fell back, convulsing as what felt like a dam seemed to burst in their minds, a torrent of images and voices flooding through their heads.

At first, everything was happening far too fast, their minds unable to process anything, but then the images began to slow and seemed to start playing in a cycle of sorts in their minds. The first thing they saw was a strange being, one who looked an androgynous young man with skin that resembled space and long white hair staring at something. The next image they saw was that of an equally strange creature in a black outfit with a red cape attached, its eyes the same as Madara's. They watched as the first creature pointed a finger at the other one.

"Come. Let me take you to your new home," he said.

The other looked up at him. "Where-?" he nearly said, but was silenced by the look the first one gave him.

"You will see," he said. A light suddenly enveloped the apparent man in black, who let out a scream as it appeared.

Then darkness enveloped their minds for a moment and then images once again appeared. Much to their surprise and confusion, they saw Madara back when he was a young boy. Naruto and Sasuke watched as Madara went through out his life like it was told he did, that is until he obtained his eternal mangekyou sharingan. As soon as it had formed, they watched as Madara fell to the ground, clutching his head as a torrent of images assaulted his mind, similar to what they were experiencing only it seemed to be rather painful in his case.

The two watched in growing fascination as the images appeared to be memories of sorts. They saw a man with dark skin being killed and quite literally went to Hell, how he then made a deal to see his wife again and ended up donning a costume given to him during his time in the fiery pit. As he bonded with the suit, they heard a name being said: Spawn. That was the new name that he was to be called by.

Then, Naruto and Sasuke watched as he was sent back to earth five years after dying as well as all of the craziness he had to go through afterwards, such as learning how to harness his new powers and having to combat all sorts of foes that Naruto and Sasuke doubted they'd even be able to hold their own against, much less win. They watched as Spawn went on to fight a dark god by the name of Urizen and then travel around the world after defeating the demon Malbolgia, who was the one that made him what he was. The memories seemed to skip forward a bit until it showed Spawn summoning two people to fight an army of zombies and then later on down the line going on to fight a group of twelve people known as the disciples.

They watched him obtain power beyond their wildest dreams and go on to wipe out the forces of Heaven and Hell with one explosive move. Then they watched him being confronted right after that by what appeared to be two kids, but the power they radiated was far beyond anything they would've thought capable of any child. Then the strange, starry being they first saw showed up and reverted the supposed kids back to their true selves: the twin brothers, God and Satan, the being's two greatest failures according to him.

The memories skipped forward again to where Spawn actually revived the earth and everyone on it, all of them having perished in the unbelievable war known as Armageddon. And finally, they watched again the scene where the being, who was now revealed as Mother, at least known as such by his children, transported Spawn to a different time period in the world, one where ninja ruled the lands and they watched in shock as Spawn was reincarnated in this time period as none other than Madara.

These were the memories that they had watched Madara witness himself when he had gotten the eternal mangekyou sharingan. As soon as the memories ended for him, Madara, or rather the being formerly known as Spawn, yelled out in rage and sadness at having to be forced to go through life again. He had wanted Mother, who he had known as Man of Miracles in his time, to end him, to put him out of his misery, but he didn't. It was this rage that inspired the creation of his Moon Eye Plan, for while he didn't have the abilities he had before, he still had the skills and abilities he had obtained as Madara.

The memories concerning Madara now ended and instead other memories came into their minds. It was none other than the memories of Mother's two children God and Satan. They both watched as they were first formed and were given the earth to watch over. Naruto and Sasuke saw them create Heaven and Hell and go on to use their awesome powers to undo each other's actions on earth, bickering all the while, which eventually led to hatred between the two. Following this was the battle between the two that caused for their mother to come and remove them from their thrones and place them elsewhere until Mother later placed them on earth, both reborn to Spawn's former wife Wanda as Jake and Katie Fitzgerald, their memories and powers sealed away. That is until Armageddon happened. The twins, Jake and Katie, or rather God and Satan respectively, gathered their armies and went to war until Spawn had put an end to it, earning him their anger and hatred, which God promptly took out on Spawn with a well placed thunder bolt to the chest upon regaining their true forms.

However, once it seemed as if Spawn was dead, the twins turned on each other quickly and the battle to end all battles began as they were finally able to let out all of their hatred. Naruto and Sasuke watched, both in awe and fear, as the two had battled all across the earth, tearing down mountains, razing whatever was left of ruined cities and scorching the ground all at the same time. It truly was an endless battle, but that was until Mother showed up. Having decided to give them one more chance, Mother stopped the battle between the two and transported them to the same time era as Spawn only many years later than when Spawn had arrived. Naruto and Sasuke then stared, mouths agape, as they saw God and Satan being once again reincarnated in the new world as none other than themselves, Naruto and Sasuke respectively.

At this memory, both of them woke back up and in the process, their bodies were surrounded by a bright light. It was so bright that it could easily be seen from miles away, blinding anyone that was foolish enough to be within a good distance of the light and stare right at it. it didn't bother them of course.

It died down as they got back to their feet, finding themselves being taller than they were before. Not as tall as they were in their previous lives, but they were certainly two of the tallest people in the world now. Their build has also undergone a transformation as well, their fit, honed bodies now looking like that of an Adonis, as if it were chiseled out of stone. As a result of their growth, their clothes were torn all over, the only article of clothing that seemed unaffected being their ninja pants.

Naruto now sported a few strands of black hair amongst his sunny blonde hair. His whisker marks were also gone, the transformation having purged him of the Kyuubi within. He knew this because during the growth just now, he had actually felt it die inside, also having heard a final roar from the raging beast.

Sasuke's face looked more or less the same, but his eyes, which had once been his eternal mangekyou, were now completely red. Also atop his head were horns, much like that of before from the past.

"Ah, that is much better," Sasuke, otherwise known as Satan now, said, cracking his neck.

Naruto, or rather God now, didn't say anything, instead looking over to Madara/Spawn. The man was practically dead on his feet, staring at the two of them with all the hate he could muster.

Satan snickered. "Well, as much as it sucked right now to get my ass handed to me by you, I gotta hand it to you, Spawnie, your new body is pretty tough. Too bad the same couldn't have been said about mine," he said, reflecting back on when he was Sasuke. He snorted in disgust; he couldn't believe how pathetically weak his new form had been.

He quickly shook his head, ridding himself of those memories for now. "But now, I can finally get some payback here. Not only did you just beat my ass earlier, but before that, you had manipulated my new form or at least tried too. And even before that, in our past lives, you had the balls to send all of my hellspawn back down under!" Satan took a step forward. "Well, it's about time you get to see them again."

Madara's/Spawn's eyes widened as Satan suddenly let loose an absolutely massive fireball from his mouth. By the time he had begun to react to it, it was already far too late, the blast being about to envelop him. "Nooo-!" he screamed before it struck, incinerating him instantly.

"Yeah, that's right, burn! Burn just like you did on your way to Hell the first time around, only this time, you aren't going to be making it down there in one piece!" Satan yelled in glee.

God had watched this happen without a thought on the matter, having been too focused on reviewing his life, as God himself and as Naruto, to have been paying attention to Madara's/Spawn's death.

He remembered how arrogant he had been throughout the early parts of his long life, how utterly childish he had been. He remembered how he had fought with his twin brother Satan over the stupidest of things, bickering back and forth like spoiled children. Then he remember how he had been as Jake Fitzgerald, having grown up surrounded by a loving family, yet he had still acted like he did before, not having cared for them in the least. And then he began to remember his life as Naruto, more specifically all of the hard times he has had to endure such as the hatred, the anger of the villagers, their taunts and insults, and moreover, the loneliness that had accompanied it due to the villagers not allowing their children to interact with him.

God looked down; he felt so stupid for having acted the way he had in his life, believing himself to be so above everyone. While it was true that he and his brother were vastly more powerful than anyone else could ever hope to be, it didn't give him a right to act that, not one bit. No wonder Mother had felt so disappointed about him and Satan; they were shallow children, only focused on themselves.

"Well, you're awfully quiet now. What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Satan asked snarkily, turning to face God.

"Brother…" he began to say, but trailed off.

However, before he could continue, they heard many footsteps approaching. Both of them turning, they saw Sakura, Kakashi, Hinata, and a few other members of the Rookie 9 coming, along with several ninja from the shinobi alliance army, no doubt that they were through with the White Zetsus and had come to back the two of them up. Too bad, there was no more Madara/Spawn for them to fight.

They all skidded to a stop as they all saw God and Satan. "Who are-?" Kakashi began to say, assuming a battle stance until he looked more closely at them. "Naruto? Sasuke?" he exclaimed. The others looked in shock at them as well.

"Kakashi-sensei," God said sadly.

"Hatake," Satan said, sounding annoyed. He faced them all. "Sure took your sweet time getting here."

"W-what's happened to you two?" Kakashi asked, not taking his eyes of them.

Satan laughed. "What happened to us? Nothing much, just remembering who we are, that's all."

"Who you are?" Sakura repeated questioningly, taking a few steps forward.

"Our real selves," Satan answered.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sakura asked, sweat rolling down her face.

Satan rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you dare to use the name of my domain so casually. None of you have any idea what Hell is really like." He took a few big steps forward, making all of the shinobi back up. "I'm the lord of light, the master of chaos! Known across the throughout history as Lucifer and Samael! I'm Satan!"

They all took a few more steps back as when Satan introduced himself, his power flared, nearly knocking them all back.

The reason why they didn't fall back was because God had moved right behind them and pushed them all back up. "Naruto?" Kakashi said, uncertainty in his voice.

God smiled sadly. "It's me. Or I guess not anymore."

"Just who are you now?" Kakashi asked.

"God." God looked at the shocked expression of the group. If it were possible for their jaws to go through the ground and all the way to the other side of the planet, he had no doubt that that's exactly what sort of reaction they'd give him.

"A-are you serious?" Sakura exclaimed incredulously. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; it was all just too insane.

"Damn right we're serious," Satan said, getting everyone's attention. "And if I remember correctly, I was in the middle of whupping my brother's ass here before we got poofed to this world." He glared at God.

God made his way past the group and towards Satan, stopping within several feet of him. "Brother, please stop and think about this. Can't you see how pointless our feud has been throughout history? Can't we just get along like we were supposed to?" he asked.

Satan laughed. "You're shitting me right? Let me guess, your life as Naruto had made you do a one-eighty here." He moved a step towards God. "Well if you're hoping that my life as Sasuke was going to do the same thing for me, you're wrong bud. I'm still the same bastard from before."

God hoped right then and there that maybe it would be possible for him to talk his brother down, but the challenging tone in his voice crushed that hope. He sighed sadly. "So I guess we're gonna have ot duke it out again, huh?"

"Damn right we are," Satan responded.

God looked to the ground sadly. Kakashi ran forward a bit, Sakura alongside him, but he didn't too close as God, with a wave of his hand, made them literally freeze in place. They tried to move, but the mental hold God had on them was too great; the difference in power was just simply too much. "Naruto!" Sakura cried out, "what are you doing?"

He smiled sadly at her. "Staying true to my word. I plan to beat this bastard's ass down and take myself along with him," he replied, doing so in the same confident tone he was known to always speak in.

"Naruto, I know you always follow through on what you promise, but is this really what you want to do?" Kakashi asked sadly.

God chuckled. "No, I don't want to do this. Given what I know now, I really don't want to, but I must." He looked Kakashi dead in the eyes. "Looks like we really are stuck in an unbreakable cycle of hate, wouldn't you say so, Kakashi?"

Kakashi stiffened at God having not addressed him as sensei; he knew that it was a sign that this really was it, the end for them.

He looked towards Hinata and the others. "Thank you. Thank you for being there for me in this life. I couldn't ask for better friends."

He then made a small motion with his hand, moving Kakashi and Sakura back towards the group. "Goodbye, guys. This is the last time I'll ever see you."

The whole time this was going on, Satan had waited patiently for his brother. He would've attack him, but didn't for he wanted to thoroughly beat the crap out of him when he was fully focused so that when he won, God wouldn't have an excuse for losing.

However, now that he was done, Satan wasted no time in attacking, lunging right at God. "Now where were we?" he said.

God, having expected as much, launched himself at Satan. Both of them collided in mid-air, the clash being so great in power that it shook the entire country. Kakashi, Sakura, and the group had to hold on to whatever they could for dear life. However, God, not wanting them to get hurt, placed a hand on Satan and before he could react to his touch, God teleported both of them away.

A light surrounded them both when he did so that made the ninja cover their eyes to avoid being blinded. When it faded, they all looked and saw that God and Satan were nowhere to be seen. "Naruto… Sasuke… you two really are cursed in this life aren't you…" Kakashi whispered. And at that, everyone seemed to break down, now knowing for certain that they will never see the two ever again.

Meanwhile, God had transported himself and Satan to a different time period. More specifically, the one they had first been in, the one where their battle had started. They landed on the barren surface of the earth hard. Satan stood to his full height, dusting some of the dirt off. "Well, this brings back memories a bit. Us throwing our armies around like the badasses we are, until that punk Spawn showed up and wiped the earth clean with his little light show."

Satan looked god dead center in the eyes. "So you ready to fight now?"

God returned the stare. "More than you'll ever know."

Satan smirked. Without waiting anymore, he brought his hands down to the ground and ripped up a huge chunk of rock from it. He picked it up high over his head with ease and then without any warning sign, threw the rock as hard as he could at God, who ran forward and backhanded it with his left fist, shattering it as if it were glass.

For a moment, God reflect on how this was exactly how they had first started their fight all that time ago. "I guess some things never do change," he change sadly, before charging at his brother, his hands overhead. Satan responded by charging at him as well.

Both of them struck each other and this signaled the resumption of their final battle from so long ago. Mountains were once again struck down by their power, the hard, uneven ground rendered smooth by the resulting shockwaves.

And so the battle between two former friends, two brothers, began again.

End

And there we go! Huh, that was considerably harder to write than expected. I really wished I could've put some dialogue in there between Hinata and Naruto/God, but for some reason why I couldn't think of anything to put. Oh well.

And as I'm sure you may have noticed, I called Mother a he. I did so because he mainly appeared throughout the Spawn comics as a guy.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. please be sure to leave a review!


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